Player-piano



P. J. MEAHL.

PLAYER PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-13.1917.

1,312,195. Patented Aug. 5,1919.

A 13 13 O G O C G O Q C O 0 C) O 0 INVENTOI? PHILIP J. MEAHL, OF SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY.

PLAYER-PIANO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

Application filed August 13, 1917. Serial No. 186,881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PHILIP J. MEAHL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Summit, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Player-Pianos, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. p

This invention relates to musical instruments, and more particularly to improved automatic player pianos.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide improved instruments of the character mentioned capable of sensitive regulation and accurate control. A further object is to rovide a simple and improved constructlon by which the intensity of sound in a player piano may be varied at will with respect to the entire keyboard or to selected portions thereof. Another object is to provide an improved player piano action havin the advantages indicated and of durable, efficient and relatively simple construction.

Additional objects and advantages will be in part noted hereinafter in connection with the following description of the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a typical embodiment of the invention and in which- Figure 1 is a side sectional view of parts of a pneumatic player piano action;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary rear elevation thereof; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 2.

The mechanism illustrated comprises ingeneral a series of striking pneumatics 1 and 2, preferably arranged in upper and lower sets in staggered relation and controlled on the one side through valve cases 3 operable in accordance with the perforasuflice, include a fixed leaf 7 and a movable leaf 8, the latter having secured thereto an extending arm 9 connected by a link 10 with striker 5. Each bellows communicates, as through duct 11, with a chamber 12; the latter having an upper air port 13 to atmosphere, and an inner port 14 to a vacuum chamber 15 suitably connected with a pressure reducing source. The ports 13 and 14 are controlled by a common valve 16 having a stem disposed in port 14 and above a diaphragm or puppet valve 17, which seals chamber 15 from an air passage 18 leading to one of the apertures in the tracker bar. A vent or bleed hole 19 may be provided as a by-pass between the vacuum chamber and conduit 18, as is commonly employed. The strikers 5 are pivotally mounted on brackets 20 extending along the rear of the valve cases 3; and in lowered position, that is when the pneumatics are expanded, rest on pads.

The operation of the mechanism thus far described is as follows: The pneumatics 1, 2 are normally expanded, since the same are in communication, through channel 11 and air port 13, with atmospheric pressure. Thereafter, upon a note sheet aperture coming into registry with the corresponding tracker bar aperture, air is admitted through the latter to passage 18, and the diaphragm or puppet valve 17 is therefore raised and valve 16 thereby elevated to seal air port 13 and to open port 14. The bellows thus comes into communication with the vacuum chamber 15 and is immediately collapsed, so that striker 5 is raised, whereupon the wippen 6 is impelled. Succeeding closure of the tracker bar aperture permits 17 to drop with valve 16, so that the pneumatic is again immediately in communication withthe atmosphere to expand, and the parts return to the positions indicated in Fig. 1.

In order to vary and govern the tone intensity of the music reproduced, means is provided to control the striking velocity a'n consequently the striking force of the piano hammers. In the embodiment illustrated a tubular member 21 is positioned horizontally above the strikers 5 and is eccentrically mounted for rotation between and brackets of the corresponding pneumatics.

suitable device under the control of the music sheet, or manually from a control de- Vice, accessible to the operator. For example, the member 21 may be provided with an ofiset arm 23 pivotally connected with a link 21, in turn connected to the end of an offset and right angled arm 25 at the end of horizontal arm 26 of a bell crank lever 27; the bell crank being mounted at a convenient lo cation on the upper face of case 3 and bemg actuated by hand or automatically through a link 28 and a proper train of connections. In my co-pending application, filed August 13, 1917, Serial No. 185,882, I have described one preferred construction for effecting automatic control of the member 21 through a pneumatic system governed by the note sheet.

For normal operation, that is, for maximum tone intensity (or for tone regulatlon through the pneumatic system alone), the rotatable member 21 occupies a position out of the path of travel of the strikers 5, so that the latter are permitted full stroke. When, however, it is desired to modify the tone by the improved mechanism above de scribed, the member 21 is turned to bring its padded face 29 into the travel path of the strikers, and therefore to constitute a stop for the latter prior to the complete collapse It will be apparent that the angular adjustment of the member 21 permits an infinite gradation of throw of the strikers 5, and therefore permits extremely sensitive regulation of the impelling force transmitted to the piano hammers.

It is to be noted, further, that the member or adjustable stop 21 may be divided into a plurality of unit sections controlling octaves, or any other desired key range. Such a construction is indicated in Fig. 2, wherein the element 21 is represented as comprising a'p'lurality of independently operable sections 21, 21, etc., having distinct but similar actuatingand controlling devices.

By thus governing the throw of the strikers 5, a complete regulation of relative tonal intensity may be accomplished with a constant pneumatic pressure, or independently of the pneumatic pressure. As a result,

for example, the music may be softened to the minimum of pianissimo by reason of the undimi'nished tension which insures clear, brilliant key-strokes. That is, the uniform, quick response of the pneumatics' may be utilized at all times, and the duration of contact between the strikers and the wippensdurmg actuated movement of the latter 6. the time of force transmission) is varied and thereby the periods of momentum loss in the hammers governed at will to control their striking velocities. On this account the described control of the strikers 5 without interfering with the initial transmission of force to the wippensis particularly advantageous.

The, general ssociation of the mechanisms described in a complete player piano, as well as certain modifications in the structure shown, without departure from the scope of the invention, will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a player piano, in combination, a series of striking pneumatics, a corresponding series of pivoted strikers actuated thereby, a corresponding series of wippens arranged for engagement and movement by said strikers, and a plurality of eccentrically mounted rotatable members extending horizontally above said strikers and capable of independent graduated movement within the range of movement of said strikers, each of said members being adapted to govern the extent of movement of a plurality of said strikers.

2. In a player piano, in combination, a plurality of horizontally disposed pivoted strikers, corresponding wippens engaged and actuated thereby, and a pivoted member above and extending across a plurality of said strikers and movable at will during operation of the piano to vary the throw of said strikers independently of said wippens.

3.-In a player piano, in combination, a plurality of horizontally disposed strikers pivoted at' one end, corresponding wippens engaged and actuated by the other ends of said strikers, and a pivoted member arranged. above and intermediate the ends of said strikers and movable at will during operation of the piano to vary the throw of said strikers independently of said wippens.

4. In a player piano, in combination, a valve case, a series of pneumatics attached to the lower face thereof and projecting therethrow of said strikers independently of said 101 beyond, a series of horizontally disposed Wippens.

strikers pivoted on said valve ease and dis- In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, posed above said neumatics, a series of in the presence of two Witnesses.

wippens to be engaged and actuated by the free ends of said strikers, and a rotatable PHILIP MEAHL' member pivotally supported on said Valve Witnesses:

case above said strikers and movable at will J. THOMSON,

during operation of the piano to vary the C. J. KULBERG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

